Hitchhiker
by AuroraDannon
Summary: Dean stops to pick up some food and gets involved with a furry along the way.


Dean smiled when he saw the lights of the small town ahead. He was hungry and he hoped that there was a diner with good enough takeout. His stomach grumbled in agreement. He glanced over at Sam and shook his head. They had had a hard time on the last poltergeist, Sam taking the brunt of it. Thankfully he seemed to be sleeping most of it off.

Dean carefully pulled into a parking space in front of 'Aunt Jenni's Diner'. He didn't want to wake Sam. The kid really wasn't getting much sleep lately. But luck wasn't with Dean. As soon as the engine was off Sam started to stir.

"Dean," questioned his sleep voice.

"Its ok Sam. I'm just going to run in and grab some takeout. And then we will be on the road again. Go back to sleep." A slight murmur was Sam's answer, as he seemed to slouch even further in his sat and drifted even deeper into sleep.

Satisfied that Sam would continue to sleep for the time being Dean got out of the car and closed his door as quite as one could on an older vehicle. Smirking that Sam didn't even twitch with the closing of the door. He sauntered of towards the diner his mouth already salivating at the thought of a good greasy cheeseburger and fries.

He practically fell into the doors when he tripped on something. Wide Innocent yellow eyes looked up at him. A soft mewling came from an orange tabby as it intertwined its self around Dean's feet. "Ahh, you. Get. Off." Came a few struggling words as Dean extracted him self from the feline and darted in the door to 'Aunt Jenni's'. Turning around he saw the cat stare at him through the door and then walk off.

Shaking his head at the strange animal Dean went and got a menu to order some food for He and Sam. After ordering Dean looked around the Diner sizing up the people in this Mayberry of a town. Finally his food was ready to go and he gladly paid and went to the door. Trying to balance it all and open it proved to be a little challenging. But he managed, barely, and was soon heading back to the car.

Then suddenly something caught his foot and Dean was very aware of the fact that the ground was rushing up to meet him and his arm loads of food. At the last moment Dean decided to drop the food and attempt to catch him self from falling too hard. He landed with a hard 'umph'. And then "Damn it." As in front of him he could see the orange tabby dart in and steal a few French fries be fore darting off again.

Dean growled with frustration and maybe a few choice words left his mouth as he picked himself back up and went to see what was salvageable from the food. Surprisingly most of it was even the two coffees had landed right side up and were in spill proff lids. Once he got it all precariously balanced again only a few fries and a little bit of lettuce stayed on the ground. _Eh, its not like Sammy needs to be eating so much rabbit food anyway._

By the time Dean got back into the car with all of the food and the two coffees Sam had woken up. Dean gleefully started in on his Hamburger once he had found it and pulled out a few fries. Sam dug around looking at choices for a while before finally settling on a salad and hamburger.

After the first few glorious bites Dean sat back munching on his burger and watched his not so little, little brother. "Man you look like death warmed over."

Sam half-heartedly snorted. "Gee, thanks."

"I just tell it like it is."

"What ever man. Talking to the guy with a possible concussion here."

Dean sobered for a moment. It really had been a hard case on Sammy. The nasty ghost decided that Dean was wonderful to us as target practice. Unfortunately it had also decided that Sam was its weapon of choice. It missed the first few times, Dean was sure it was on purpose, then It tossed both of them down a flight of stairs. It was pretty miraculous that the only thin they had gotten was a few bumps and bruises. Though in Sam's case the 'bump' on the head was a little bit more vicious, though not too serious.

Dean watched as Sam made his was through his cheeseburger and then start in on his salad. Dean for his part was still munching on fries and debating another cheeseburger at the moment. Then he noticed Sam's head start to nod forward.

With the gentleness of an older brother Dean took the salad from Sam's hands. Sam's eyes slated open but Dean just murmured to him and helped him adjust enough so Dean could put his seatbelt on.

Dean sat in silence for a few moments before deciding to get back out on the road. As he packed up the food to save for maybe later, He heard a cats meowing. Dean suddenly sat up and looked around outside the impala. "That damn cat better not be coming around and asking for anymore hand outs!" Then his eyes darted to Sam. He had gotten a little loader then he meant to, but it seemed that Sam would sleep through it all.

Dean put the bags of food in the back seat but kept the French-fries he had been working on next to him. When everything seemed to be settled and he couldn't see the darn cat anywhere he pulled out of the diners parking lot and headed west. He wasn't really sure where they were going again. Sam had said something about Utah. Or was it New Mexico. He couldn't remember, but at the moment it didn't really mater.

A few minutes on the road Dean heard something over the softly playing music of Metallica. Turning it off he listened hard trying to figure out what it was. Then his eyes widen as he pulled over to the side of the road. It was that darn cat! He knew it was.

He opened his door and pooped the hood open. As soon as he had the hood up and latched in place the orange cat had attached its self to his jacket.

"Whoa. Not on the jacket!" Dean realized that the cat had gotten up into the engine area to keep warm and was probably scared, but he had no intention of letting the cat claw up his clothes or him for that matter.

Dean finally extracted the cat and really looked at it. It calmly looked at him back. "I'm sorry, but this is where you get off. I don't pick up hitchhikers." He leaned over to set the cat on the ground. The Tabby just looked up at him with mournful eyes. "Nope I'm sorry, but I'm not really an animal lover. No matter the look you give me. You are not going to come with us. And that's final."

Dean stared hard at the cat trying to covey what he was saying to the animal. But Dean couldn't hold the stare. It was getting a little cold outside. And looking around he couldn't even see the diner anymore. _Wow did I really drive that far already? And how is that cat still alive. _

_No, _it was a resolve. _I can't have the cat come with us. I just need to get back into the car and get going. Cats are resilient and he/she will be fine. Just get back into the car Dean. _And he did just that. But as he was starting to close the door the cat was suddenly in his lap. It reached up and gently put a paw to his face.

Dean felt his resolve start to crumble. Then he noticed movement from the corner of his eye. It had started snowing. "Damn." Dean's hand went up of its own accord and was thoughtfully stroking the cat on the head. He shook him self out of it when it started to purr.

"Fine. You can stay until the next town. But then you are out. Understand me?" Dean didn't expect the almost affirmative meow. And he looked at the cat with a little worry. He wasn't so sure of what he was getting into. "The rule is you can lay on the floor in the back. Not the seat. And if you wake him up," Pointing to Sam, "Then I will personally throw you out the window. I don't care how cold it is outside or how fast I am going."

The cat just looked at him with a solemn face. Dean sighed heavily and then popped the trunk. Going straight for Sam's duffle bag he pulled out a towel and then laid it across the floor of the backseat. The cat licked him once on the face as if in thanks and the deftly leapt from Dean's arms to the towel and lay down.

Dean just shook his head and rolled his eyes. _Why me?_

He closed up the trunk and got back into the car and took off. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night. After a while he did settle into a comfortable silence as he was driving. Things weren't so bad. Then he heard the quite meow. He couldn't stop the groan that escaped his lips.

"What do you want?"

The cat was suddenly in between Sam and Dean in answer.

"What the." Dean caught him self from letting the car swerve to far out of the lane.

"Dean?" The question came from Sam even though his eyes still hadn't opened.

"Nothing to worry about Sam. Just a cat." Sam seemed to accept the answer and turned towards the window to rest his head.

Dean glared at the cat. The cat pawed at a French fry. "What? You still hungry?" The cat just looked at him. "I can't believe you. First you trip me and still some of my fries then and then you trick me into taking you along on a road trip and now you want more of my fries?"

The cat pawed at the same fry in answer.

"Fine! Have a fry. But you will still sit in the back on the floor to eat it! Dean grabbed the fries and not to carefully set them some where behind him. Then he grabbed the cat and dropped him behind Sam's chair. "Now stay there and leave me alone!" He whispered harshly in his frustration. Still not wanting to wake Sam.

_Great, now I am talking to a freaking cat! And it's making me talk to my self as well. I knew I should have just left it back there. _But Dean really knew that he couldn't. He may not be a 'cat person' but he also wasn't a cruel person. He knew that with the snow starting to fall that the cats chances for survival had lessoned from the not so great odds to begin with.

He only hoped that Sam wouldn't wake up and see his moment of weakness. He prayed that Sam would sleep until they got the next town with a descent motel and that he could get the cat to leave once they got there before Sam even woke up. _Who am I kidding with that one? The odds of that happening are about as good as I was going to actually leave that cat out there. _And Dean had a sneaking suspicion that the cat knew it as well.

"All right Hitch I'll play along, but you are so not going to give my brother can cannon fodder on me over this." Dean spared a glance to the cat. It was happily gnawing a French fry, which it held between its paws, almost like a dog would with a bone. "Weird cat."

Half and hour later Dean had settled once again and was listening to Metallica when something suddenly attacked his neck. "Shit!" He didn't mean to yell out, but that damn cat had startled him.

"Dean?" Sam opened his eyes this time.

Dean looked over and saw the worry in Sam's eyes. "Ah, nothing Sammy. I just dropped my fry is all."

Sam looked at Dean doubtfully, but the pull of sleep was dragging him back. Dean heard the barely mumbled "Its Sam," as he rolled over to go back to sleeping against the door.

Dean Glared in the review mirror at the cat. "That was almost to close to you going out the window Hitch," Dean whispered still angry and frustrated at himself as well as the cat.

Hitch just looked up and him and then made himself comfortable on the towel that had some how gotten on the backseat. Dean was tempted to reach back and pull the cat back to the floor, but then her reasoned with him self. He is on the towel. _Never mind that the towel was on the floor to begin with. _He really didn't want to deal with the implications of a cat that was smart enough to some how move a towel off the ground to the seat to guarantee being able to stay on the said seat.

Dean just gripped the steering wheel harder. _Ok calm down. Its just a stupid cat. And its not like Sam will tease you foever about this when he wakes up. Oh who am I kidding. It'll be forever and a day. Ohwell. Just buck it up and act like it was all your idea and not the cats. That way it wont seem so bad and as long as I don't get riled up with the teasing it'll stop. Eventually. _He hung his head in defeat. _Man! This really sucks out loud._

Dean Tried once again to settle into the mode for driving and listening to Metallica. But every time he started to relax he would tense again in antisipation of something happening. He glanced many times into the review mirror. Hitch seemed to be peacefully sleeping curled up on Sam's towel.

It was with great relief that Dean saw the sign that said the next town was only 15 miles away. _Finally this ordel is almost over! I might even be abel to get away with this._

Then he heard the meowing. He looked in the review mirror. There was Hitch, laying with his head upside down and twitching in a dream. The meows and growls were from his sleeping. _Crap! Now what?_ Dean was unsure what to do. He was afraid that if he woke the cat up it would attack his neck again and that in turn might wake Sam. But he knew that if he didn't wake up Sam the sounds might wake him as well.

After a moments thought Dean turned up the music just a little bit. He smiled at him self. It seemed to drown out the cat. The next five miles went with out a hitch. Then Hitch started again, this time louder. Dean gritted his teeth. They were almost there! He reached out and turned the music up once more. This time Sam started to move. He was starting to wake up.

Come on, we are almost there. There are Only about 10 miles to go, and then to find a motel. Dean turned the music down just a little bit. Hitch seemed to have moved and was quite for the time being.

5 miles to go. I can do this!

MEOW. Crap!

"Dean, why am I hearing a cat while we are in the middle of nowhere driving 80plus miles an hour? And for that matter why are you driving 8- plus miles an hour?"

Dean's Jaw clenched and he gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were turning white.

"Dean?"

Dean started to slow down and spared a glance out of the corner of his eye at Sam. Then as he was about to answer, "Meow"

Sam's eyes widend as he realized that the cat was in the impala. He whipped his head around and stared at the cat in the back seat. "Dean why is there a cat in the back seat?" And then after a moment, "Why is there a cat in the back seat on MY towel?" Sam started shouting.

Dean took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves. Hitch for his part jumped up to the from and went to Dean's lap and curled up again. Dean fluttered his eyes a moment and growned loudly. "Hitch! Get back where you belong." The cat just looked up at him. Dean was aware of Sam stifling a laugh.

"Sam don't you dare." But it was too late. Sam was laughing loudly and wholeheartedly. Dean tried to keep a straight face. He really did. But he couldn't. He knew it was actually a funny position to be in and it felt good to be laughing. It had been awhile.

He was still laughing with Hitch in his lap as he pulled into the motel at the edge of town. After parking he opened his door. Hitch immediately jumped out of the car and only turned and looked at both Sam and Dean once before sauntering off. They both watched him in the head lights with his tail high in the air. Suddenly he was gone. Not just out of sight gone, but as in completely vanished like we wasn't there gone.

Sam and Dean both looked at each other. "Ah man!" Said Dean in a whiney voice. "I can not believe I just got dupped by a spirit cat! How lame is that?"

Sam just busted up laughing again. "You are so going to have to tell me the whole story."

Dean just glared at his brother and went to check in effectively ending the conversation.

Sam for his part couldn't wait to start rubbing it in.

AN: So this was taken a little from how I got my first cat, Ford. He was found in my Stepfathers Ford Truck one night on his ay home from the movie theater. :P


End file.
